Automatic burglar, fire, or like alarm



June 6, 1939. E.'R. MOUNTSTEPHEN AUTOMATIC BURGLAR, FiRE, OR LIKE ALARM Filed Nov. 2, 1937 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 6, 1939. EVR. MOUNTSTEPHEN 2,161,525

AUTOMATIC BURGLAR, FIRE, OR LIKE ALARM V Filed Nov. 9 1937 4 Sheets-'Sheet 2 4 I Y F102;

June 6, 1939. E. R. MOUNTSTEPHEN 2,151,525

AUTOMATIC BURGLAR, FQIRE, OR LIKE ALARM Filed Nov. 2, 1937 4 Sheets-Shea 5 June E.. R. MOUNTSTEPHEN 2,161,525

- AUTOMATIC BURGLAR, FIRE OR LIKE ALARM Filed Nov. 2, 1937 4 Shegts-Sheet 4 Patented June 6, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT orries I aprons-fro noggin: on LIKE.

Edred muslin Mountstephcn, Southchd-on-Sea,

England Application November 2, 1931, Serial No. 112,401 In Great Britain November 4, 1938 fiaims. (01. 179-5) with 'a police, fire or other station and to transmit,

a suitable message to said station upon the occurrence of a burglary or fire. Y

m A prior United States Patent No. 2,090,574: de-

scribes an alarm of this character in which the unauthorized opening of a door, window, safe or the like, or the operation of a thermostat due to an abnormal rise in temperature, operates an electroemagnet which releases trip mechanism whereby means are set into operation to establish a connection between the alarm device and the telephone system and to start the gramophone motor. The gramophone motor, upon being started, operates mechanism which successively dials an emergency signal to establish communication with the appropriate station, lowers the sound box onto a sound reproducing record to produce the message or alarm to be transmitted, returns the sound box to the commencement of the record and finally disconnects the device from the telephone system.

The mechanism for effecting these various operations is of a relatively complicated construction and the object of the present'invention is to provide an improved simplified construction of driving and control mechanism for effecting the above mentioned operations and an improved dialling mechanism whereby the apparatus is simplified and the reliability and certainty of its operation under all conditions is enhanced.

Acconiing to the invention the means for effecting thenecessarysequence of operations, including the dialling means and the sound box lifting and lowering means, are operated by a common transmission shaft or driven elementv actuated by the gramophone motor.

In order that the invention may be more clear- 1y understood one particular embodiment thereof will now -be described by way of example, with reference to the accom-panyingdrawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the apparatus according to the invention,

. Figure 2 is a side elevation looking in the direction of the arrow 11 in Figure 1; so Figure 3 is a side elevation of the dialling mechanism showing the parts in the operative position,

Figure 4 is a side elevation, looking in the direction of the arrow IV in Figure 1, of the transas mission unit,

mounted on its opposite end, drives the dialling Figure 5 is a similar view of the lifting and lowering mechanism for the sound box,

Figure 6 is a side elevation looking in the direction of the arrow VI in Figure 1, and

I Figure '7 is a diagram of the wiringcircuit.

In the construction shown in these drawings the driving mechanism consists of a self contained transmission unit, generally designated A, comprising a common vertical transmission shaft 8 driven direct from the turntable spindle 8 of 10 the grambphone and a pair of horizontal shafts.

l0 and II driven from said transmission shaft,

for respectively driving the dialling mechanism, generally designated B, and operating the mecha- 15 nism, generally designated C, for lifting and lowering the sound box onto the sound record. The a turntable spindle 9, the transmission shaft 8 and the two shafts l0 and II are interconnected by suitable gearing and said shafts 8, I0 and II are mounted in a common bracket IZQrigidly secured to the base plate l3 of the apparatus.

On the upper end of the common transmission shaft 8, of the transmission unit'A, is mounted-a toothed wheel H which meshes with a pinion l5 rigidly mounted on the turntable spindle a. On the lower end of the transmission shaft 8 is a bevel wheel l6 which meshes with a second bevel wheel I! mounted on one end of theshaft l0 which, through the intermediary of a pinion i8 30 mechanism B which is hereinafter fully described. Intermediate the ends of the trans'mission shaft 8, between the toothed wheel M and the bevel wheel li is mounted a worm l9 which engages a toothed wheel 20 securely mounted on the shaft H which operates the mechanism C, which is hereinafter'iully described, for lifting the sound box and lowering it onto the gramophone record. Also mounted on the shaft H is 40 a cam 2| by means of which the dial is moved into operative position as hereinafter described.

The dialling mechanism, generally designated B, comprises an annular rack 21 rigidly mounted in suitable bearings in a supporting bracket 24 45 secured to the base plate I! of the apparatus. On the lower end of the .spindle 23 is mounted a radial arm 25. The annular rack-22 is arranged H concentrically above a standard telephone dial 26 and is driven continuously by the pinion I8 mounted on the driving shaft Hi of the transmission unit A, so that-the radial arm 25 is caused to rotate continuously around the face of the dial The dial Ills mounted on one end of anarm 56 or plate 21 which is pivoted at 2: to the base plate It or the apparatus in such a manner as to pivot in a vertical plane, whereby said dial can be raised to bring a pin 29 mounted thereon into the path of the continuously rotating arm 26 (Figure 3). The pin 23 or the like is mounted in the aperture of thedial which normally corresponds to the ofa standard telephonediai.

The dial is raised and lowered as desired by the action of the cam 2 which, during the rotation of the shaft upon which it is mounted, actuates a lever 3| which is pivoted at 32 to the bracket I2 and which in turn operates a rockable lever 33 which is pivoted at 34 and extends below a finger,36 pivotally mounted on a pin 36 mounted on the vertically movable plate or arm 2"! carrying the dial 26. The pivoted lever 3| is provided with a projection 33, with which the cam 2| engages, and extends above the outer end of the rockable lever 33. The adjacent ends of the levers 3-| and 33are held against lateral displacement by means of a slotted guide member 31.

In operation the transmission unit A rotates the cam 2| and the radial arm 26 mounted above the dial 26 continuously as hereinbefore described. During its rotation the cam 2| engages the projection 30 on the lever 3| and causes said lever to move about its-pivot 32 and to press downwardly against. the end of the rockable lever 33 which is thus caused to rock about its pivot 34, whereupon the opposite end of said rockable lever 33 is moved upwards and sinceit is located below the finger 36 mounted on the plate 27 carrying the dial 26, lifts said dial and thus brings the pin 23 mounted thereon into the path of the rotating radial arm 25. The Pin 23 is thus engaged by the rotating radial arm 26 whereby the dial 26 is rotated in a clockwise direction until the cam 2|, continuing its rotation, moves out of engagement with the 40 lever 3| when the dial 26 drops under its own weight, or with the aid of a spring (not shown), and lowers the pin 23 out of the pathof the rotating radial arm 26 to permit the dial to rotate in an anti-clockwise direction to its initial position. It will be understood that by suitably shaping the cam the dial can belifted and lowered any desired number of times and can be maintained in its lifted or operative position for any duration. The actual number of times the dial is lifted and lowered and the precise duration it is maintained in its lifted or operative position, however, will depend upon the number of the digits in the number to be dialled, and the value of each of said digits respectively; thus the cam is shaped according to the number or emergency signal. to be dialled. In the construction shown in the drawings the cam is shaped to lift the dial twice and to maintain the dial in its lifted or operative position flrstly, for the period necessary for dialling the number 2" and secondly for the period necessary for dialling the number 0, the number "20 being assumed, for the sake of example, to represent the emergency dialling symbol.

As the spindle upon which the cam 2| is mounted, rotates continuously, it ls necessary that the dial 26 should be disconnected from thediallifting lever 33 immediately after the dialling operation, that is to say as soon as the dialling of the emergency signal has been effected, so as to prevent the dialling operation from being repeated when the cam 2| returns to its normally operative position, For this purpose the finger 36, which is pivoted at 36 and below one end of which the rockable dial-lifting lever 33 engages, projects at its opposite end into the" path of the pin 23 mounted on the dial 26 whereby at the end of the dialling operation, that is when "0" is dialled in the machine illustrated, the pin 23 contacts with the finger 36 and rotates it about its pivot 36 thereby moving it out of engagement with the rockable dial lifting lever 33 into the position shown in broken lines (Figure 1), whereupon the lever 3|, which is normally held by the rockable lever 33 in the position shown in full lines in Figure 4 falls into the position shown in broken lines in Figure 4 in which position the projection 33 formed thereon no longer projects into the path of the cam 2|.

If desired the dial 26 may be disconnected from the dial lifting lever mechanism 33, 3|, 20 by separate mechanism operated direct from the cam 2|.

After the dialling operation has been-completed,-

which is arranged in the telephone circuit as indicated inthe circuit diagram shown in Figure 6. The sound box 33, the tonearm 33 and the casing or housing 43 for the microphone are built as a single unit, preferably of the character described in our co-pending application No. 172,462 which is mounted on a rod 4| rotatably mounted in a member 42 which is itself pivoted at 43 to a bracket 44, whereby said tone arm unit can pivot both in a horizontal plane, to enable the sound box to move across the sound record, and in a vertical plane, to enable the sound box to be lowered onto and lifted from said record. On the lower end of the rod 4| is a plate 45 which, when the sound box is in its raised position'above the commencement of the sound record, lies parallel to and engages a stop bar 43. The sound box is normally held in this position by a supporting member 41 pivotally mounted in the bracket 44 and provided with a seating surface 48 for aroller 43 mounted at the lower end of an arm 63 which is integral with the member 42 pivoted in the bracket 44 and in which the rod 4| carrying the tone arm unit is mounted. The supporting member 4.! and the arm 63 are arranged in the same vertical plane as a pin or cam 6| rigidly mounted on the operating shaft ll of the transmission unit A. The pivot of the supporting member 41 is provided with a downwardly projecting extension 62 forming a handle by means of which the said member 41 can be moved into position when setting the machine ready for operation; also the operating shaft II is provided at its opposite end with an indicator 63 for use in setting the machinereadv for operation.

In operation, the operating shaft II and with it lowered whereby the sound box is gradually lowered onto the commencement of the sound record to produce the message or alarm to be transmitted, and the plate 4611 moved out of engage amazes message or alarm is being transmitted the sound mencement of the record. At this stage the pin box travels across the record and at the same time rotates the rod 4| in the member 42. When the sound box reaches the end of its travel across the record, therod- 4| will have been rotated to such an extent that the plate 45, mounted on the lower end thereof, will have moved into an angular position relative to the stop-bar 46, and the pin or cam 5| will have again reached theposition where it engages the roller 46. Whenthe pin then engages the roller 49 the arm 60 will be raised and cause the sound box to be lifted oil the sound record. During this latter operation the plate is again moved into engagement with the stop bar 46 but, owingto their relative angular positions, only one edge of saidplate 46 will engage the stop bar 46 and, owing to the pressure of the plate 46 against the stop 46, the rod 4i, on which the said plate 45 and the tone armnnit of the gramophone are mounted, is caused to rotate until the plate 45 is again parallel to the stop bar 46 and the sound box is again positioned over the comor cam 51 will again gradually lower the arm 60 whereby the sound box 68 is again lowered onto the commencement of the record to repeat the message-or alarm. The message or alarm is repeated continuously in this manner until the gramophone motor runs down when the alarm device is disconnected from the telephone system as hereinafter described.

The burglar or fire alarm'according to the in matically when it is set into operation and is automatically opened again, as hereinafter described, to disconnect the device from the telephone system after the message has been transmitted and repeated as described above.

The mechanism for setting the alarm device into operation is illustrated in Figure 6 and generallydesignated D in Figure 1, and comprises trip mechanism formed by the armature 55 of an electro-magnet 51 and, a catch or abutment 56 mounted on a double arm angular lever 58 provided at its outer; free end with a weight- 59 and pivoted at its opposite end at 'I3.- Below one arm of the double arm lever 58, and in the same vertical plane, is a catch 60 which engages a stop 6| on the gramophone turntable. The catch 60 is formed on one end of a pivoted lever 62 having at its opposite end a weight 63 which tends to holdthe said catch 60 in engagement with the stop 6| on the gramophone turntable. The catch 60 is adapted to be moved out of engagement with the stop 6|, to start the gramophone motor, by the double arm lever 58 when said lever falls into the position shown in broken lines in Figure 6 upon the tripping'of the trip mechathe same vertical plane as the weight 59, is a lever 58 when the latter is released by the trip mechanism 66, 66. The parts 64 and 65 of the switch closing member are pivoted together at 61 so that the part 64 can be pivoted upwardly and rearwardly to facilitate the return of the,

mally held in this position by a light spring 12.

The part 66 is provided with an element 10 which, during operation, forces the resilient contacts of the switch 64 together to thus close said contacts. The part 64 of the switch-closing member'64, 65 is provided with a hooked end which, when the said member is moved into the closed position shown in broken lines in Figure 6, engages below a catch formed on the armature 68 of an electromagnet 68 whereby the switch 54 is held in the closed position.

As mentioned above the switch 54 is maintained in the closed position to connect the alarm device with the telephone system while the message or alarm is being transmitted, but after the message or alarm has been transmitted is again opened to finally disconnect the device from the telephone system. The latter, operation is effected, when the gramophone motor runs down by a knife switch 14, I6, Figure 1, which closes the circuit of r the electro-magnet 69,. which is thus energised so that the armature 68 is attracted and releases the member 64, 65 whereby said member returns to its. initial'position, due to the resilient action of the switch 54, and said switch is opened.-

The knife switch comprises members 14 and 15. The member 14 is pivoted at 16 to the-base plate l3 and provided at its inner end with; a fork-like part between the arms of which the edge of a disc 11 of the governor of the gramo phone motor extends. When the motor is running at full speed the'said member 14 of the knife contact is moved by the governor into the position shown in broken lines in Figure 1. The

member 15 of the knife contact consists of two spring blades pivoted together at I8 to the bracket .24 and is connected by a lever 19 to the finger said member 15 is moved into the position shown in broken lines in Figure 1, that is into the path ,of the knife contact, which are initially in the position shown in full lines in Figure 1, are when the device is set into operation, moved into the position shown in broken lines in the manner described, the member I4 being moved into such position first. The members 14 and 15 remain ,35 pivotallymounted on the dial 26, 'whereby in this position until the gramophone motor runs down when the governor of the motor moves the member 14 between two contact points (one of which is shown at 60' in Figure 1) on the mempreviously described. I

The telephone circuit, that is the circuit in which the telephone dial 26, microphone 46 and the switch 54, and the circuits in which the electro-magnets 51 and 69 and knife switch 14, 15

are arranged, is illustrated diagrammatically in Figure 7. Y

The electro-magnet 51, which. releases weight I nected with the'terminals l, a and the electr magnet 68 which operates to open the switch it finally to disconnect the machine from the telephone line is connected with the terminals 2, 3 through the mechanically operated knife switch l4, 15. The terminals 4, i are connected with the telephone line upon the closing of the switch 54, the connection from the terminal I, through the telephone circuit being through the primary winding of an'inductance coil 8|, the

switch 54 via contacts a, b, c, the secondary winding of the coil ill, the condenser t2, the switch 54, via contact d,'the dial 2. and microphone 40 back through the switch 54,. via contacts e, c, the inductance coil Ii, condenser 82 to temperature, whereby the trip mechanism 55, 58

is operated and the weighted lever "thereby released. The lever 58 then falls into the posltionshown in chain dotted lines in Figure 8 and during its fallflrst moves the catch OI out of engagement with the stop ii on the gramophone turntable to start the gramophone motor and then move the member 84, 8! into the position shown in chain dotted lines in Figure 6 to close the switch 54 and thereby connect the alarm de-' vice with the telephone system. The gramophone motor thus being set into operation moves the' member 14 of the. knife switch 14, f5 into the position shown in chain dotted lines for the purpose specified and simultaneously drives the transmission mechanism A. The cam 2| mounted on the shaft ll of the transmission unit A then operates the' lever mechanism 3!, 33, 35 to lift the dial into operative position whereupon the dialling operation is effected, as described above,

and communication with the desired station established, after which the elements 35, 19 are actuated to disconnect the dial from the dial lifting mechanism 33, 3|, 2i and to move the member 75 of the knife contact into the position shown in chain dotted lines. After the above operations have been completed the pin or cam member if moves the supporting member 51 away from the arm 58 and moves under the roller 49 of said arm ill to gradually lower the sound box 38 onto the record, as above described, whereupon the message or alarm is transmitted to the police, fire, or other station with which communication has been established.- As the sound box travels across the sound record during the producing and'transmitting of the message or alarm, the pin or cam II moves into position again to engage the roller 48 of the arm 5|, the arrangement being such. that. the said pin or cam ll reaches the roller 49 at or about the time the sound box reaches the end of its travel across the record. The sound box is then lifted and returned to the commencement of the record'as described above, when the message or alarm is again produced and transmitted to the desired station. This operation is thus repeated continuously until 'the gramophone motor runs down when the'member I4 of the knife switch passes through the spring blades of the member I! and thus closes the circuit of the electro-magnet 69 which is thus energised with the result that its armature 581s attracted and releases the hook part of the member ll, 65 whereby the switch S4 aromas is opened and the device thus from the telephone system.

It will be clearly'understood that the ratio of the gearing of the transmission unit A must be such that the shafts I. and ii drive the mechanism B and C respectively, at predetermined relative speeds, and that the cam 2! for operating the dialling mechanism B. and the pin or cam ii for operating the mechanism C, for lifting and lowering the sound box onto the record, mustbe so arranged on the shaft ll rela-;

tively, to eachother that the various operations are eflected in the desired sequence.

I What I claim and desired to secure by Letters Patent is:

. 1. In an automatic alarm device including a gramophone having a record carrying turntable and a driving shaft therefor, said gramophone further having a sound box supported for movement into and out of engagement with a record on said table, the combination with means to effect raising and lowering of the sound box, means to swing said sound box across said table, a signal transmitting device including a dial, a shaft driven from said turntable shaft, and a from said driven shaft to the sound box controlling mechanism and the dialing mechanism.

2. In an automatic alarm device including a gramophone having a record carrying turntable and a driving shaft therefor, said gramophone further having a sound box supported for movement-into and out of engagement with a record on said table, the combinationwith means to effectraising and lowering of the sound box, means to ,swing said sound box across said table, a signal transmitting device; including a dial, a shaft driven from said turntable shaft, a bevelled gear on said driven shaft, a third shaft extending laterally from the driven shaft, a bevelled gear on the third shaft meshing with the bevelled gear on the. driven shaft, a gear fixed to the movable element of the dialing device, and a gear on the third shaft meshing with the last mentioned gear;

3. In an automatic alarm device including a gramophone having a record carrying turntable and a driving shaft therefor, said gramophone further having a sound box supported for movement intoand out of engagement with a.

record on said table, the combination with means to effect raising and lowering of the sound box, means to swing said sound box across said table, a signal transmitting device including a dial, a shaft driven from said turntable shaft, a bevelled gear on said driven shaft,a third shaft extending laterally from the driven shaft, a bevelled gear on the third shaft meshing with the bevelled gear on the driven shaft, a gear fixed to the movable element of the dialing device, a gear on the third shaft meshing with the last mentioned gear, and other gearing actuating the tone arm controlling means.

4. In an automatic alarm device including a gramophone having a record carrying turntable and a driving shaft therefor, said gramophone further having a sound box supportedfor'movement into and out of engagement with a record on said'table, the combination with means to effect raising and lowering of the sound box, means to swing said sound box across said table, a

signal transmlttingdevice including a dial, a

shaft driven from said turntable shaft, 9. bevelled gear on said driven shaft, 9. third shaft v plurality of gearings transmitting movementextending laterally from the driven shaft, a bevelled' gear on the third shaft meshing with thebevelled gear on the driven shaft, a gear fixed to the movable element of the dialing device, a gear on the third shaft meshing with the lastmentioned gear, and other gearing actuating the tone arm controlling means, said other gearing including a driving shaft for the tone arm controlling means, a worm wheel on said driving shaft, and.

signal transmitting device including a dial, a shaft driven from said turntable shaft, a bevelled gear on said driven shaft, a third shaft extending laterally from the driven shaft, a bevelled gear on i the third shaft meshing with the bevelled gear on the driven shaft, a gear fixed to the movable element of the dialing device, a gear on the third shaft meshing with the last mentioned gear, other gearing actuating the tone arm controlling means, said other gearingincluding a driving shaft for the tone arm controlling means, a worm wheel on said driving shaft, a worm on said driven shaft. a camming disk fixed on the driving shaft for the tone arm controlling means, means to raise 1 and lower the gear on the dialing mechanism into and out of mesh with the gear on the thirdshaft, and operating means for the last mentioned means controlled by said camming disk.

EDRED, RABJOHN MOUNTSTEPHEN. 

